Cage: The Works for Percussion I

Percussion Group Cincinnati Mode 229 ****

Percussion Group Cincinnati Mode 229****

"Works for percussion" doesn't quite describe this collection of five Imaginary Landscapesand Credo in US, written between 1939 and 1952 by John Cage. What's missing is the sense of the raw material Cage used. Imaginary LandscapeNo 1 calls inter alia for two variable speed turntables playing frequency test recordings, No 4 is for 12 radios, No 5 for any 42 recordings edited on to a tape (tape was still a novelty in 1952). The war-time (1942) Credo in US(pun intended) is for percussion and phonograph, and, like a number of the other pieces is given in more than one version, varying the selection

of recorded music. These pioneering, experimental works chart what you might call the prehistory of electro acoustic music, and the disc is available as a CD or a DVD, with a video documentary, high-resolution tracks, and even more alternative performances.

See url.ie/8b2u

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor